In U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/460,210, and from which the present application claims priority, a conveyor assembly is described and which includes a reactive mass electrical transducer which is oriented or positioned in spaced relation relative to a conveyor bed and which further, when energized, imparts reciprocal motion to the conveyor bed so as to move a given product along a product conveying surface of the conveyor bed in a rather novel manner.
The conveyor assembly as described in the aforementioned patent application avoids many of the prior art problems associated with the earlier disclosed excited frame conveyor assemblies which have been employed in various work environments, and which utilize out-of-balance motors to cause reciprocal motion of a conveyor bed. These out-of-balance motors normally utilize eccentric weights and which been employed, heretofore, to generate vibratory energy and which further imparts motion to these excited frame conveyor designs. The prior art problems associated with these out-of-balance motors is well known. In this regard it has long been known that the prior art out-of-balance motors, from time to time, need to be repaired or replaced due to excessive bearing wear. Further, other problems have presented themselves regarding the operational adjustment of the resulting conveyor device after installation. For example, one of the shortcomings noted in the prior art practices is that, depending upon the weight of the product being transported by the conveyor bed, an adjustment of the vibratory force which is imparted to the conveyor bed is often difficult to make absent a replacement of the respective eccentric weights, and which are rotated by the out-of-balance motors which drive the conveyor bed. The changing of these weights frequently take some period of time to accomplish. Consequently, there is no readily convenient means by which both the frequency and the amplitude of the force which is generated by an out-of-balance motor, and which is provided to a conveyor bed can be made, absent significant alterations being made to the drive arrangement of such prior art excited frame conveyors.
In addition to the shortcomings, noted above, the prior art out-of-balance motors also have had problems when used on extremely long conveyors. These longer conveyors have often employed a multitude of out-of-balance motors, at given locations along the length of the conveyor bed. In these prior art devices, a rather complex control system for energizing and de-energizing these motors was previously developed, and is currently employed to inhibit adverse movement of the conveyor bed upon starting or stopping the conveyor.
While the invention as described in the aforementioned co-pending patent application works with a great deal of success, some problems begin to arise when the reactive mass as employed with same begins to increase in size and weight. Of course, the weight of the reactive mass employed with devices as shown in this patent application would increase rather significantly as the length of the conveyor bed increased in length.
The present invention, as described, hereinafter, provides a convenient means for addressing the problems associated with using a larger reactive mass, having greater weight, and which is used to generate the predetermined forces which are employed for various industrial applications such as reciprocating an excited conveyor assembly as seen in the prior art. A vibration generating assembly which avoids the detriments associated with the prior art practices which have been utilized, heretofore, is the subject matter of the present application.